‘It was pretty bad’: Player losses hurt but Lions have evolved, says Dakota Davidson
Brisbane forward Dakota Davidson says “it was pretty bad” to lose a host of star teammates, but reveals why the Lions don’t care.
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Brisbane star Dakota Davidson says the Lions’ depth has been able to shine through after a host of key off-season departures and will hold them in good stead against Geelong on Saturday.
The talismanic key forward, who will play her 50th game in the preliminary final, says the Lions are bracing for an “exciting” brand of football after Geelong surged away from Melbourne before holding off the Demons’ late charge in its stirring five-point semi-final win.
Davidson said it was “pretty bad” to lose star trio Emily Bates, Greta Bodey and Jesse Wardlaw after the grand final loss to Melbourne last season, but the speed of the Lions’ rebound had instilled great confidence in the group.
Wardlaw was the league leading goalkicker and an All-Australian for the Lions last year, but in her absence Davidson was able to produce career-best numbers with 11 disposals, five marks and two goals per game during the home-and-away season.
“Losing a few players is always tough, but I think we have the depth in this squad to have been able to fill those roles pretty quickly,” Davidson said.
“I myself took on a bit more of a leadership role in the forward line and I think it’s shown with the numbers and stats.
“The girls rely heavily on each other and we definitely go through the game together. Losing those people was pretty bad, but we bounced back pretty quick.”
Davidson brushed off any concerns over her shoulder after receiving a knock on the stroke of halftime during the qualifying final win over Adelaide.
She said the week off had helped the side to enter the Cats clash with a clean bill of health, with skipper Bre Koenen also cleared of any damage after a minor ankle sprain against the Crows.
“The shoulder’s fine, it’s really good actually, I trained well all week. It was a little bit of a stinger, but having a week off always makes for a good recovery,” Davidson said.
“It’s always good having a week off – the team trained really well this week, and everyone is feeling fresh and ready to go which is pretty exciting.”
Davidson said the 6.45pm timeslot under lights at Brighton Homes Arena would provide a significant advantage to the Lions.
Geelong only played two night games during the season, while without daylight saving in Queensland, Brisbane has trained under floodlights all year.
“We love playing under the lights – we train under the lights every night,” Davidson said.
“It’s probably when we play our best footy … you can hear the crowd roaring, it definitely fires us up and gives us an advantage against opposition players.”
Originally published as ‘It was pretty bad’: Player losses hurt but Lions have evolved, says Dakota Davidson
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